Last month, Alex Salmond, the first minister, stood next to the actress Elaine C Smith and MSPs Cathy Peattie and Shirley-Anne Somerville to sign a statement of intent by women’s groups at the launch of a zero tolerance campaign to highlight domestic violence.
Salmond’s signature was backed up over the festive season with a TV radio and billboard campaign, another example of the government’s determination to keep the issue in the spotlight.
Scotland was one of the first countries to produce a national domestic abuse strategy and Scottish Women’s Aid is full of praise for the government’s work, which has encouraged many more to come forward. But their annual report, published this week, will send a chill down Salmond’s spine.
Scottish Women’s Aid’s 2006-07 report shows their own groups are forced to turn women and children away. In 68% of cases, this is due to “lack of space”.
It is simply unbelievable that only four groups were able to provide refuge to more than half of women who requested it. Of those, only one – the Western Isles – had a 100% record and that was because only a handful of women and children were brave enough to approach them for help.
Elsewhere, the number of women accommodated was staggeringly low, with Drumchapel in Glasgow taking only 5% – or 35 out of 701 women – and 7% (42) of the 578 accompanying children who came to them. Rural Ross-shire took in just 9% of women (six out of 67) and 10% of children (10 out of 98).
At a time when more women than ever are requesting help, refuges are forced to sent them to homeless accommodation or refer them to England, meaning their anonymity cannot be guaranteed nor their welfare monitored properly.
Many of these organisations are unsure about where their funding is coming from in the coming months because of the agreement between the government and local authorities to end ring-fencing as part of the deal to freeze council tax bills.
The desperate plight of victims of domestic abuse is hardly a price worth paying for cheaper council tax bills.
From http://www.sundayherald.com/oped/opinion/display.var.1945358.0.abuse_victims_deserve_better.php
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